The director may assess administrative fines for any of the following prohibited acts:
(a) Conducting business from any location other than that location to which a license was issued or conducting a business as an individual, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation unless the licensee holds a valid license issued to that exact same individual, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation. The fine shall be one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation.
(b) Aiding or abetting an unlicensed repossessor or assigning his or her license. “Assigning his or her license” means that no licensee shall permit a registrant, employee, or agent in his or her own name to advertise, engage clients, furnish reports, or present bills to clients, or in any manner whatsoever to conduct business for which a license is required under this chapter. The fine shall be one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation.
(c) Failing to register registrants within 15 days. The fine shall be two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for each of the first two violations and one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation thereafter.
(d) Employing a person whose registration has expired or been revoked, denied, suspended, or canceled, if the bureau has furnished a listing of these persons to the licensee. The fine shall be one hundred fifty dollars ($150) for the first violation and a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation thereafter.
(e) Failing to notify the bureau, within 30 days, of any change in officers. A notice of warning shall be issued for the first violation. Thereafter, the fine shall be five hundred dollars ($500) for each violation.
(f) Failing to submit the notices regarding a violent act or threatened violent act within seven days pursuant to Section 7507.6 or to submit a copy of a judgment awarded against the licensee for an amount of more than the then prevailing maximum claim that may be brought in small claims court within seven days pursuant to Section 7507.7. The fine shall not exceed five hundred dollars ($500) for the first violation and shall not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each violation thereafter.
(g) Failing to include the licensee’s name, address, and license number in any advertisement. The fine shall be fifty dollars ($50) for each violation.
(h) Failing to maintain personal effects for at least 60 days. The fine shall be one hundred dollars ($100) for the first violation and two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for each violation thereafter.
(i) Failing to provide a personal effects list or a notice of seizure within the time limits set forth in Section 7507.9 or 7507.10. The fine shall be one hundred dollars ($100) for the first violation and two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for each violation thereafter.
(j) Failing to file the required report pursuant to Section 28 of the Vehicle Code. The fine shall be one hundred dollars ($100) for the first violation and two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for each violation thereafter, per audit.
(k) Failing to maintain an accurate record and accounting of secure temporary registration forms. The qualified certificate holder shall be fined two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for the first violation, fined an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) for the second violation, and fined an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) plus a one-year suspension of the privilege to issue temporary registrations pursuant to Section 7506.9 for the third and subsequent violations.
(l) Representing that a licensee has an office and conducts business at a specific address when that is not the case. The fine shall be five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation.
(m) Notwithstanding any other law, the money in the Private Security Services Fund that is attributable to administrative fines imposed pursuant to this section shall not be continuously appropriated and shall be available for expenditure only upon appropriation by the Legislature.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 800, Sec. 7. (SB 1196) Effective January 1, 2017.)